Mexico’s incoming president Claudia Sheinbaum will inherit an economy plagued by uncertainty after reforms pushed through by her predecessor upset investors and key regional trading partners.
Riding high after a landslide June election victory, Sheinbaum’s Morena party has passed constitutional changes making Mexico the only country to elect all its judges — despite warnings they could be more easily influenced by politics and organized crime.
The reforms have raised fears among some experts that Sheinbaum’s presidency will be “stillborn” after she takes office on October 1, said Jesus Carrillo, head of economics at the Mexican Institute for Competitiveness (IMCO), a public policy think tank.
I don’t know if we’ve gotten that far, but it seems to me that the economy’s potential has been reduced a lot,” he said.
Even before lawmakers approved the reforms this month, Mexico’s central bank lowered its forecast for economic growth this year from 2.4 percent to 1.5 percent....Read Full Article [Click Here>]
The United States, Mexico’s main trading partner, has warned that the reforms threaten a relationship that relies on investor confidence in the Mexican legal framework.
The changes could pose “a major risk” to Mexican democracy and enable criminals to exploit “politically motivated and inexperienced judges,” US Ambassador Ken Salazar said last month.
Even before she takes office, Sheinbaum has found herself engulfed in a diplomatic row with Spain, another key economic partner, over her refusal to invite King Felipe VI to her inauguration.
Sheinbaum, who will be Mexico’s first woman president, accused the king of failing to acknowledge harm caused by the former colonial ruler’s conquest five centuries ago.
